Gas turbine engines, such as those which power aircraft and industrial equipment, employ a compressor to compress air that is drawn into the engine via a fan and a turbine to capture energy associated with the combustion of a fuel-air mixture. Various components of the engine may be subject to wear over the operational lifetime of the engine. For example, in an aerospace application the engine may ingest stones, hail, animals (e.g., birds), etc., that may degrade the structural integrity of a component of the engine. The degradation may render the component inoperable and/or may impact the performance/efficiency of the engine.
One of the components of an engine is a fan blade. The fan blade is manufactured to include a sheath/shield at an axial, leading edge of the fan blade. The shield is coupled to a fan blade body/substrate via an epoxy adhesive. The shield helps protect the blade against erosion. The shield also provides strength/resistance to the blade in relation to potential impact with objects, such as the ingested objects described above. However, the shield's presence at the leading edge of the fan blade also makes the shield particularly susceptible to wear. If the wear is significant enough (e.g., if the wear is in an amount that is greater than a threshold), the shield may need to be removed and replaced.
Conventional techniques for removing a shield from the blade body include application of an instrument (e.g., a putty knife) to remove the adhesive that couples the shield to the blade body. While effective, the use of the instrument may have a tendency to compromise the integrity of the blade body. Another technique that is used in the removal of the shield is to submerge the blade in a chemical solution bath. The chemical solution compromises/attacks the adhesive, thereby separating the shield from the blade body. However, the chemical solution is only effective where the chemical interfaces with the adhesive; experience suggests that a blade may need to be submerged in the bath on the order of twenty hours before the shield is separable from the blade body. Accordingly, what is needed is a more efficient and effective technique for removing a shield from a blade body.